Platte City single dad of three dies in cement truck accident

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SMITHVILLE, Mo. -- A deadly accident claimed the life of a single dad on Thursday morning. Thirty-seven-year-old Mark Yanits of Platte City was driving a concrete mixer truck when a tire blew out, causing him to lose control, hit a guardrail and crash.

Yanits died after being thrown from the truck.

‪"We got a phone call that a truck had run off the road," said Marvin Maples, the owner of Platte County Ready Mix.

Maples says he heard one of his 28 employees had gotten into a bad accident just after 10 a.m.

"I was hoping he wasn't hurt, you know, that's the main thing, we'll have to fix the truck. But it didn't work that way this time‬," Maples said.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol's crash report, Yanits was driving a 1995 Ford concrete mixer truck eastbound on Highway W, about two miles east of US-169, in Platte County, when his front tire blew.

"He first came here in November, we trained him, and then he went back to CDL school and got his license and then he came back‬," Maples said.

The truck ran off the road, struck a guardrail, and overturned. According to the highway patrol, Yanits was not wearing a seatbelt, and was ejected from the truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

"He's a veteran, I believe he was wounded over in war, he has three daughters, and his wife got killed in a car wreck when he was in the service‬," Maples said.

Maples says Yanits' cousin, Richard, also works at his company. Maples said Richard told them that Yanits' oldest daughter's 16th birthday is Thursday.

"Close family, that's what we are here, we look out for each other, make sure everybody draws a check and gets the work. He was close‬," said Maples.

The owner says the company is already planning to hold some sort of memorial in honor of Yanits.